This weekend, we had a quiet dinner with only my family and I decided to make my dad the Vietnamese dish I think I make the best. There are several variations of Vietnamese beef noodle soup; I wanted to make Papa’s favorite, which is the one with beef tendon, called phở bò tái gân.

We watched la Météo (weather forecast) yesterday on TV and it seems it's going to be raining all week!.The clear broth is absolutely delicious and it's perfect if you feel under the weather, which seems be happening to us given the rain!

After seeing family and friends (of course), the part of a trip to Paris that I most look forward to is visiting the myriad bakeries and pastry shops (boulangeries & patisseries) that the city has to offer. However, over the past decade I've noticed a trend of "industrialization" and franchising of bakeries that has dramatically reduced the quality. To be sure, there are still shops that make products unrivaled by anything you could hope to find in the States. Unfortunately, there are also enough imitators around now that you can just as easily spend your hard-earned money on a pastry or croissant that is far worse than the ones sold at your local Costco.
So how does one separate the wheat from the chaff? It's actually not too difficult if you're a bit observant. Here are some tips to help you on your quest: Full Recipe...

Since we arrived in Paris, my husband Lulu and I have taken the opportunity to have romantic getaways in Europe and leave baby Aria with my parents. My parents are thrilled to get to have time alone with their granddaughter, and thankfully, so is Aria. As the crazy mom that I am, I've left a long list of instructions for my mom to ensure the happy well-being of my baby girl, and that includes what she eats. Ever since Aria started eating solid food, I've managed to feed her only homemade baby food. I use the term baby food loosely, since I only feed Aria food that I would also eat.

I've taught Maman one of Aria's favorite soups: roasted bell pepper soup. It's a healthy blend of lentils, brown rice and roasted bell peppers. When Lulu and I came home, there was still some soup left, so we all ate it as a first course. I garnished it with sweet basil and a drizzle of balsamic reduction. It's fantastic!

Since I'm in Paris, I’ve been spoiling my little 2-year-old nephew Paul and 4-year-old niece Elise with sweets. It’s a great way to bond with them in a short period of time. Crêpes are always fun, so I made a pile for all of us to share, along with various jams, Nutella, honey and powdered sugar. In addition to the individual crêpes, I made mini crêpe cakes, filled with fig and banana jam. To repeat the flavors in the dessert, I topped the cake with freeze-dried banana chips and roasted figs.

The most fun part of the assembly was watching Elise and Paul eating the crêpes as I was making them. Lucky me, I still had enough crêpe batter to finish the dessert. I absolutely adore them!

While strolling in an open-air market in Paris with my father, he noticed fresh cèpe mushrooms. If you've never seen them, they're quite large and brown, very similar to porcini mushrooms. In my opinion, these are very tasty mushrooms and Jean-Damien, my brother-in-law, had mentioned people go "hunting" for these wild mushrooms in the Parisian forests ("les forêts d'Ile-de-France"). Papa bought 2 small cases and I made a very simple mushroom gratin to showcase the unique flavor of these wonderful mushrooms.

I sautéed the cèpes in garlic and sweet basil. Then I transferred them to a gratin dish and covered them with alternating layers of Gruyère cheese and béchamel sauce. The result was a divine, creamy dish that suits the rainy weather we've experienced here in France.